Documenting Our Life

New Blog Location!

2008-08-09T11:27:00.001-07:00

I've moved my blog to my Digital Dry Goods server, so update your links to:

http://digitaldrygoods.com/blog/

See you there!

Orchid Update:

2008-08-07T06:13:00.001-07:00

For all of us Digital Scrapbooking Font Using Peeps

2008-07-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Even almost 40 years olds need to eat.

2008-07-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

Since, we won't be together on my birthday this week. And, since I got a free meal coupon for my birthday from B.D.'s, we decided to go out tonight. I was so proud of the boys, actually opting for the stirfry, rather than copping out by ordering the chicken tender appetizer. You get a bowl, fill it with veggies, raw meats, then fill a cup with sauces. Then you take it all to the mongolian grill, where they cook it for you with "sticks". Yum. Yum.

Will had a (not so) appetizing stir fry of edamame (soy beans) with meatballs, pasta, and marinara sauce. Then, he went back for seconds of just a meatball and marinara stir fry. Ben had a chicken and carrot strips only mix with some sweet & sour sauce plus garlic power and season-all. He then wrapped that up in tortillas . . . and really ate it. Carey opted for a steak mix this time, and I went with chicken, egg, bean sprouts, carrots, onions, zucchini, and squash with some chili garlic sauce. Apparently, this is a Michigan chain, but there are some in a few other places. If you ever are near one, you must give it a try!

He's baaaaack!

2008-07-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

And, we're glaaaaad. He earned three merit badges, and an award for the tent sign that he and Carey made (the letters were all cut by Carey with the bandsaw). . . then, he and Will attached them and polyurethaned it a gazillion times. Good thing, too. It stormed a couple of days - downed trees and all. They had to evacuate to a building and sleep there for the night. But, they were all safe and sound, and he had a wonderful time.

New Giraffe Bag

2008-07-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

Part of what I did while the boys were in Georgia at the beginning of the summer:

Pattern is Amy Bulter's Sophia Carry-All. Outer fabric is Java Giraffe.

Yes, that's three different branches of blooms

2008-07-18T15:57:00.000-07:00

I've just watered it, that's all. I promise.

What we woke up to this morning:

2008-07-09T05:50:00.000-07:00

Ben kept yelling out the window "the frogs come in peace!!", and he refused to watch after a while.

Another DNA Post

2008-07-07T13:19:00.000-07:00

So, another DNA post. There's something to that gene pool. Here's a pic of my oldest, and next to him is his great great uncle (my maternal grandmother's brother) Carlos. I really think that Carlos and my cousin Andrew really look more alike (NOT that they're blood related). Now, it does concern me a bit that the last DNA post showed Will as a toddler - he is an almost copy of my husband's cousin, Clay. But, as far as I know, WE ARE NOT RELATED! I have Georgia roots, and Carey has Tennessee roots. It is funny how it all works, though. . . the whole 6 degrees of separation.

Timez Attack

2008-07-07T10:28:00.001-07:00

For all those parents with kids trying to learn multiplication tables. . . . please see this:

Timez Attack is an awesome multiplication tables game. You have to see it to believe it!! My boys both love it. It's like a high end video game, but drills you on your multiplication tables as part of the game play. There's even a free version (with less environments). And, the paid version is not very expensive. What I like about it is that the kids have to quickly recall the answers, which ensures that they really have them memorized. What ever works, right?

Tunnel Park - scrapped

2008-07-06T13:38:00.001-07:00

[click to view larger]

Tunnel Park

2008-07-06T10:15:00.001-07:00

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-04T18:56:00.000-07:00

Photo (of course) updates.

2008-06-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

First, an updated orchid picture. It's moving right along. I must say that it seems to be extremely happy in the kitchen window, even it I occasionally knock it around while washing dishes.

And, I had to post this one of Will. I took it in downtown AA while my sister was visiting. I really wanted to get him in front of this cool skateboard grafitti (which I cut off entirely!). However, once I got home and looked at it, I really like that he happens to be next to grafitti that says "man". Because that is what he is all too rapidly turning into.

2008-06-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

My comics reading boys always look out for me and point out the ones that will make me laugh. Although, I think the artist should have captioned it "My Baaaaad".

The Henry Ford - silly siblings

2008-06-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

My sister, Heather, her husband Brian, and Brian's sister Susan (who is visiting from Australia) came to visit this week - and will be taking the boys back to Georgia for their annual two week visit. Or, as Carey and I see it, for our annual two week vacation [thanks everyone].

On Friday we visited The Henry Ford, which is something you all should do if you are ever near Detroit. It is a great place to spend a day - and a few moments in a photo booth.

Growth.

2008-06-05T14:56:00.001-07:00

To the plant babysitters:

Look at the orchid, now! Apparently, it likes the kitchen window.

Baseball Scrimmage @ Eastern Michigan University

2008-06-05T03:38:00.001-07:00

Ben's 2nd Grade End of Year Picnic

2008-06-05T03:37:00.001-07:00

Bend it like Ben. Catch it like Will.

2008-06-03T15:43:00.001-07:00

Summer Sledding in Michigan

2008-06-03T10:20:00.001-07:00

Ben and Andrew enjoy the warm weather. . .

Wii Fit Parody

2008-05-21T08:21:00.001-07:00

Although our Wii Fit is set to arrive today (finally!!!), this parody is just hilarious.

POIH strikes again.

2008-05-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

Our little Prince of Irreverent Humor struck again this morning. The back story - last week Will got a postcard from the church youth group encouraging him to come this Sunday night to the meeting. She said she would buy ice cream for those that came. Ben happened to read the card over the weekend, and reminded Will to ask for his ice cream.

Flash forward to this morning. . . Ben said "Mom, did Will get his ice cream last night?" I said "yes". The he says "You know, Mom, they just give that ice cream away to lure kids in.". The gene of mad observations skills has been passed on.

Baseball [finally] + Court of Honor

2008-04-30T11:50:00.001-07:00

Will got the ranks of 1st and 2nd class on Monday night.

Coopers Hawk

2008-04-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here's your nature lesson for the day. Feathers went flying just outside my window a minute ago as this hawk swooped in to catch it's prey mid-air. Pretty cool. . . except for the part where he stood on his prey in the yard, squeezing it until it died - then he flew off (to eat it, I guess). The pictures aren't great, but he was pretty far out into the yard.

Soccer Season is here [baseball pics to follow, too]

2008-04-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

We moved Ben up to the U10 soccer level this year - he's was just too big to play with the ones his age, and he is really into soccer. Turns out it was a really good decision. Now, he's one of the smaller ones playing with the 3rd + 4th graders, but he holds his own. He loves the bigger field, and he can get more physical - cause the other ones are at that age to be more physical, too.

[click to enlarge]

the gene pool

2008-04-15T07:28:00.001-07:00

There may be something to this whole gene pool thing. Below are (in order) Carey's cousin Clay, our son Will, and Clay's son Michael. Amazing.

awwwwww.

2008-04-10T05:52:00.001-07:00

Do you know what this is? Bet you couldn't guess.

While playing outside this weekend, we noticed that a tiny little baby blackbird had died and was laying at the end of our driveway. Yesterday, I noticed this pink writing, and asked the boys if they had done some chalk drawing. Will answered, "Yes, Mom. Ben thought that the bird needed a little tombstone. He put a "B" on it for "bird"."

Like I said - awwwww.

Happy Birthday Will! (aka how did we get this old?)

2008-04-09T13:45:00.001-07:00

[click picture to enlarge]

You hear people say it all of the time
where did the time go?
how is it possible you are this old?
Just yesterday, you were this curly headed blonde hair blue eyed toddler
who wanted to go ride the penny pony or helicopter at the store
Just yesterday, you were so excited to be turning 5
and having a real Pokemon come to your party
Just yesterday, you were turning 7 at the Rock Climbing Gym
and were so impressed that your Gram climbed the Rock Wall, too!
Just yesterday, you were in Belgium celebrating your 10th birthday
with lots of games and new friends from more countries than I can remember
Now, today, you are 12
I know this is true, but it is hard to believe
You are more teenager than boy (oh, boy!)
But you are still a complete joy
The curls are still there and so are the blue eyes
so I know it is you, just bigger

How high?

2008-04-07T09:18:00.001-07:00

KiteFlying4_2008-18
Originally uploaded by MacGirlMichelle

We don't quite know, but 4 spools of kite string later, this is what Will had. Both Saturday & Sunday, he got it this high for several hours.

Hopefully Spring has arrived here to stay - we'll see. I remember getting excited about 60 degree weather last year, only to have snow dash my hopes later that month!

For now, we'll enjoy it, though.

The Henry Ford

2008-04-05T07:21:00.001-07:00

HenryFord3_2008-14
Originally uploaded by MacGirlMichelle

What a cool place to spend the day. We started off by seeing "The Spiderwick Chronicles" in the IMAX theater. The movie was really good - even better on the IMAX screen. After the movie, we spent a couple of hours walking through the museum. It's amazing all they have there. I think one of the docents said that there are 3 acres of space in the museum. We saw the car that JFK was riding in when he was shot (now it's no longer a convertible). There were several full trains, all kinds of buggies, bikes, cars, planes, and furniture.

One of the newer items on exhibit is a prototype house that never went into production. It was designed by Buckminster Fuller and is made from airplane materials (the only ones that weren't in short supply when he designed the house). You'll have to look at the Flickr photos to see it - very cool.

We at lunch at the weinermobile cafe (yes, the Oscar Mayer weinermobile is on display). Will was the only one of us who dared eat the footlong dog - and he ate it all.

After the museum, we boarded a bus and rode to the Rouge factory. This is something that everyone who comes near here needs to do. It was really fascinating. It's a 1/3 mile loop around, but you can walk on a catwalk around part of the manufacturing floor and watch the assembly line process. And, yes, they were in production yesterday, so we got to watch them in action. The make the Ford F150 trucks at that plant. I'll gladly go back there with anyone who comes to visit us!

Yes, we fit an entire spring break into one day. It was a blast. This weekend we're supposed to have sun and 60+ degrees!

The Family's All Together, Now

2008-04-01T06:57:00.000-07:00

The "lellow" car is back home. The family is one again. . . 14 hours later. We had fun driving around town and visiting with Latosha + Jasmine. Will got to visit with his friend Stephan. Will commented on our visit back to Greensboro - "You know, I used to know this place like the back of my hand, but now it's changed so much." Ben had little to no recollection of much of it. I think he may have recognized the playground at Claxton. Of course, here on the picture blog, we have pictures:

[Krispy Kreme!] [Will + Stephan-hadn't seen each other since 3rd grade]

[Jasmine, me, + Latosha] [our 14 hour hauling set up . . . ]

New Tourism Slogan

2008-03-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

[Picture taken today]

2 New Kits Up @ Digital Dry Goods!

2008-03-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

Stop by today:

What Ben wants to be when he grows up:

2008-03-24T15:51:00.001-07:00

a seal trainer. . .

Happy Easter Everyone!

2008-03-24T08:35:00.001-07:00

Irish Blessings

2008-03-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

View out onto the bay at Kilkee, Ireland

May the blessing of Light be on you -
light without and light within,
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart till it glows like
a great peat fire, so that the stranger
may come and warm himself at it, and
also a friend.
And may the light shine out of the two
eyes of you, like a candle set in two
windows of a house, bidding the wanderer
to come in out of the storm.

And may the blessing of the Rain be on you -
the soft sweet rain. May it fall upon your
spirit so that all the little flowers may
spring up, and shed their sweetness on the air.
And may the blessing of the Great Rains be on
you, may they beat upon your spirit and wash
it fair and clean, and leave there many a
shining pool where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.

And may the blessing of the Earth be on you -
the great round earth; may you ever have a
kindly greeting for them you pass as you're
going along the roads.
May the earth be soft under you when you
rest upon it, tired at the end of the day, and may
it rest easy over you when, at the last, you lay
out under it;
May it rest so lightly over you, that your soul
may be out from under it quickly, and up, and
off, and on its way to God.

Cynical? No, he says.

2008-03-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."

George Bernard Shaw
Nobel laureate in literature

Carey ran across this today. Don't call him cynical anymore - he'll pull this one out on you ;D.
Although, I must say he has mad observation skills.

And, for those not in the know, I quote from UrbanDictionary.com:

	mad
	(adj.) an adjective used to enhance a noun. 1- dude, you got skills. 2- dude, you got mad skills.

Our Youngest - a.k.a. The Prince of Irreverent Humor

2008-03-13T05:47:00.000-07:00

The elementary school science fair is tonight. Ben and I worked hard building his robot dinosaur in January. Last night we put together the display board. Oh, but we couldn't stop there. I was trying to figure out how to glue something to the back of the board to get it to stand up straight, then Ben had the idea to build a Lego holder. He disappeared into his room for a while, and came back down with the supplies. Carey suggested getting the baseplate to make it easier - Ben (as he was running up the stairs) - patted Carey on the shoulder and replied "I'm one step ahead of you, Dad". Yes, he usually is one step ahead of us. He proceeded to build the holder - the Lego people to "hold" it up - and, just for a little irreverent humor, went about building a scene for his robot . Words can't do it justice.

Coming this week to Digital Dry Goods!

2008-03-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

Winter Glitter - the kit! (no, it's not Spring yet people)

Yum.

2008-03-08T14:05:00.001-08:00

Our wonderful neighbors, the Chapmans, sent us this Edible Arrangment! My oh my - didn't know fruit could be this good. Have you ever had pineapple dipped in dark chocolate? Try it.

Basketball 2008

2008-03-06T07:54:00.000-08:00

The boy would play all year if they had leagues. . . [click picture to see it up close]

They finally cancelled school!

2008-03-06T07:42:00.000-08:00

We got 7" of snow on Tuesday night, and they finally canceled school. Shock! Of course, the boys had no trouble getting up at 7 am Wednesday morning. There must be some inborn kid thing that tells their bodies that school's out for the day.

We did have fun - inside and outside. And, I had a proud moment Wednesday morning. . . I was [semi] forcing my choice of movie for the morning - The Sound of Music. About half way through, Will announced "you know, this movie is pretty good". And Ben agreed. I almost cried. Seriously. So, all those years of playing show tunes in the house has paid off after all. Carey's thrilled ;D.

Isn't this March? We're supposed to get 6 - 9 more inches Friday + Saturday. So much for the Cub Scout celebration at the zoo on Saturday, I think. . . I don't know, we'll see how Michigan-like we can be.

Happy Birthday Carey!

2008-02-27T17:12:00.000-08:00

Did you stay up to watch?

2008-02-21T09:24:00.000-08:00

Our 9 degree forcast hinted that the sky would be clear [+ cold] - and it was both. It was amazing to watch.

The New Borders

2008-02-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

Cant' wait for everyone to come visit - we'll take you to the new Borders. It is really as great as the press it's getting. It's almost as pretty as a Mac ;D - and that's important.

I'd do it all again.

2008-02-14T08:27:00.000-08:00

Jamaica - Sunsplash catamaran - May 1992

Announcing the opening of . . .

2008-02-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

Digital Dry Goods
[my new store selling digital scrapbooking products]

www.digitaldrygoods.com

Whirly Ball!

2008-02-10T17:22:00.001-08:00

Don't know if this is a Michigan thing or a northern thing, or what - we've never seen it before. But, the youth group at a church met tonight at Ann Arbor Whirly Ball for an hour of fun. Carey was wishing the adults had been invited. Imagine bumper cars mixed with basketball + Jai-Alai. These aren't the best pics in the world, but you get the idea. . .

This should be called the

2008-02-09T06:43:00.001-08:00

photo blog. . . here's what we did this morning. There aren't many seal valentines out there to buy, so we made our own. I wanted to put "Sealed with a kiss" on them ;D , but Ben vetoed that.

More Geeky Fun

2008-02-09T06:40:00.001-08:00

Woodland Meadows (Ben's school) held their Math Night last night. Really, it was fun.

A night of geeky fun.

2008-02-06T07:16:00.000-08:00

Heritage held its annual Science Fair last night, and Will participated once again. This year, he built a robot that follows a black line - sounds simple, but it took a while (thank you to Dad and the internet). He had fun with it, enjoyed hanging out with his friends last night, and got extra credit on his science grade - what more could you ask for.

There are more pictures on flickr - including one of a very cool trebuchet a friend of his built. If you can't see the flickr pictures, email me - I have to add you as a friend because I have all of my pictures set to friends + family only.

232 Years Later

2008-02-05T10:51:00.000-08:00

Any American can look at their child and say "you know, you can be President one day". Finally, for once, I can hear "without regard to color, race, sex, religion, or national origin" and not say to myself "yeah, right". Even though we've had our primary here, I'm excited for all those other people who go to the polls today! :]

vote.

2008-02-04T13:40:00.000-08:00

and they were right

2008-02-03T06:09:00.001-08:00

about the weather:But, we had basketball anyway - the wonders of snowplows.

Wanna come sledding?

2008-01-31T08:30:00.000-08:00

Heavy Snow Warning in effect from midnight tonight to 7 PM EST Friday...
	Tonight Not as cold. A chance of snow until around midnight... then heavy snow. Accumulations 2 to 4 inches. Lows 17 to 21. East winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.
	Friday Heavy snow and a chance of sleet. Accumulations 4 to 6 inches. Storm total snow accumulation 6 to 10 inches. Highs 29 to 33. North winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent. » ZIP Code Detail

a post for the grandparents. . .

2008-01-28T17:28:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd post a picture of Ben's class that came today:

Happy Anniversary Lego

2008-01-28T10:22:00.001-08:00

Go Google something today - and think about Ben when you do. [Legos are about all the boy wanted for Christmas, and he spends literally hours in his room building]

Laying it all out on the table. . . or paper

2008-01-28T07:36:00.001-08:00

This morning, I finally got around to going through Ben's school papers from last week, and I run across this:
The question he answered (he just wrote on the wrong side of the paper) was supposed to be "Should children learn a 2nd language? Yes or No?" His answer translated (they are supposed to write words as they hear them, even if they don't know how to spell them yet): "Yes, children should learn a second language so they can annoy people like Cole." Apparently, Cole doesn't like when Ben says "bonjour" and "au revoir" in class, which I am certain he does more frequently depending on if Cole's around or not.

Does it make me a bad parent that all I did was laugh until tears were running down my face? (note: Ben wasn't in the room).

Neither Rain nor Sleet nor Snow

2008-01-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

What do Michigan Boy Scouts do for fun in the winter?

What do Mom and little brother do while the crazy boys are sleeping in the snow? As Ben put it to Carey this morning when he asked if we had a good time - "Dad, Mom and I didn't even open the door all weekend - except for the pizza guy!" We did work on his school science fair "building" project - a cool Lego kit he got for Christmas. We weren't being lazy, just warm.

Bluebell time

2006-05-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Once a year for a couple of weeks, the forests around Belgium are carpeted with Bluebells. Some more than others. These are from the forests at Halle (near Waterloo). I wish I could post the smell. . . it was intoxicating.

Italy

2006-05-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

Venice, Rome, and Pompeii in eight days. Surreal is the only word that comes to mind. All of the art, history, and architecture. It was in every aspect the way I had always seen it in my mind's eye.

I hope the coin in Trevi Fountain works, because I look forward to my return.

You'd think he was Eeyore

2006-04-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

so sad. . . head hung low, a "nobody wants to be my friend" face. And this morning he spoke: Ben said "Dad, when are Will's friends leaving?". Carey told him that they would leave sometime after lunch, and asked him why. Then Ben said, "Cause I really want my Will back".

Wild Friday

2006-04-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

We feel as though we've opened a B&B for young, wild boys. Our first customers from right to left at the kitchen bar are: Will, Fabian, Roee, and Jonathan (the last two are twins).

Since we cannot have Will's birthday party until the end of the month, we let him invite over a couple of friends for a sleepover this weekend (his birthday is Sunday). And, we were so happy that the twin's mom offered for Ben to come over and play for the afternoon with Or, the twin's younger sister. We understand that at this very moment, he's enjoying the weekly Israeli/Jewish feast of 15 or more dishes that the twins' family cooks each Friday. More stories to come, I sure. . .

Tooth Fairy Exposed?

2006-03-29T10:40:00.000-08:00

Will lost another baby tooth tonight. For some reason, he didn't want to put it in his tooth pillow, but in a water bottle cap that was sitting on his desk. He told me earlier in the evening when he lost it, that he thought the tooth fairy would bring him 3 euro. I laughed. He sort of laughed, too.

Tonight, when Carey was putting him to bed, he told Will, "I hope the tooth fairy can find where you put your tooth". Will replied, "Oh, I think THEY can, Dad".

He'll be 10 in 2 weeks. It will all start to come out slowly now, I guess. Poor Easter Bunny, poor Santa, they had such good ruses going, too.

Wisdom beyond his years

2006-03-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

As Ben came back from climbing a tree on the playground at school, I said, "Ben, I saw you climbing that tree. You did a good job! It must have taken a lot of strength." Ben replied, "No, Mom, you see you just have to know how to pick the right branches that can support you."

Georgie Visits

2006-03-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

Just had to share this picture. Friends of ours who live in Charlotte, sent us their son's Geo Georgie to visit for the week. We took him to the Grand Place to visit, took some pictures, and wrote a letter about our adventures. We will send Georgie back next week.

I'm not trying to be a slack blogger, but I'm still having trouble with Typepad timing out on me when I try to post. Hopefully, they'll figure out what the problem is, or I may have to switch blog services.

family day

2006-02-19T10:38:00.000-08:00

It was actually sunny this morning - well, not really sunny, but not raining either, just sprinkling a little. OK, so our definition of sunny has shifted a bit. Regardless, we headed to the boys school to practice some baseball. They just completed a new sports field complex last year, complete with a astroturf baseball field - really nice, really big, and today, really vacant. This week is the carnival holiday week (Dimanche Gras, Lundi Gras, Mardi Gras. . . ). Most everyone we know has left town, so it's pretty empty around the school. We had a blast. I mainly stood in the outfield, reading a scrapbook magazine in between fielding balls. The boys, however, got a workout. Both Will and Ben (and Carey) hit the ball well. We're trying to get the boys ready for their games, which start next month. A few more trips out, and I think they'll be there. As well as they hit today, their confidence is way up - which is half the battle!

On the way home from the school, we stopped by for a walk through the Boitsfort market. We took some photos, bought some flowers, bread, and cheese. Then, came home for a laid back meal of fresh six grain bread and swiss cheese. . . yum. The boys even got into it. Will insisted on getting his own loaf - which he dug into in the car. Ben was happy with a corn muffin, but agreed that Will's bread was OK. Hope you all had a good Sunday as well. I'm off to have homemade pizza, which just came out of the oven - nothing like fresh bell pepper and onion. . .

... continued

2006-02-16T10:37:00.000-08:00

And, here you go. The scoop on the lights from the Bulletin - a weekly English magazine we subscribe to.

Happy Valentines Day, part deux

2006-02-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

I tried to take pictures of our commune traffic lights yesterday, but the weather was uncooperative. But, on the way home from scouts tonight, there was a spot of time with no rain. So, here you go. I'm sure I made a lasting impression on the locals running down the street in my cub scout uniform with camera in hand, taking photos of the traffic lights. But, it was worth it. Isn't this cool? We're not sure if the commune did this, or if there's some secret cupid running around in the night taping shapes to the traffic lights. When we moved here, though, there were bats on all of the lights - no one seems to know where they came from, but they coincided with the release of Batman Begins. Whoever did it, it's nice to see that someone still has a sense of humor. There's no telling how many people they made smile this week.

Happy Valentines Day

2006-02-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

A happy thought for Valentines Day:

Twenty years from now
You will be more disappointed
by the things you didn't do
than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines
Sail away from the safe harbour
Catch the trade winds in your sails
EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER.

Basketball Team

2006-02-13T09:34:00.001-08:00

Lately, it's been very unlike me to post twice in one week, much less twice in one hour. Lately, Typepad has been ify at best when I tried to post or upload pictures. For some reason, the stars are aligned tonight, so I thought I'd go ahead and upload Will's basketball team photo. Ben is still living here, in case you were curious. He just wasn't old enough to play basketball (but, his best friend was - ask him, he'll tell you ALL about it. . . the injustice). However, he is signed up to begin T-ball next month - stories forthcoming, I'm sure.

New Business Card

2006-02-13T09:34:00.000-08:00

Carey and I got a new "business card" from someone last night:

For all of this child's focus and attention challenges, he is truly sweet and funny to the core. And, inventive. And, a really good joke teller (and maker) - call for quotes.

Snowy Greetings

2006-02-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

The Brussels Sports Association Basketball Tournament was today. We ended up staying all day, becuase the Cub Scouts were also selling food as a fundraiser. We sold American goods purchased at the base, so it all went very well! It's amazing, but you can sell a box of Fruit Loops here for 6 euro! And, Oreos were going for 5! Will's team lost both of their games, but had a good time - they also got medals.

And, as a bonus, we got snow. Will said that "it must have been a gift from God, because he knew that we were working hard both on basketball and selling stuff to help the cub scouts."

playing with the camera

2006-01-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

One added benefit of daddy coming back was that mommy got to play with the new camera. I have visions of taking long walks through Brussels, photographing along the way. Hopefully, I'll improve along the way, too. Here are our favorite subjects-

Menu of the Day

2006-01-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

Can you tell this is an international school? What other lunchroom would serve this? Although, I must say that my kids eat at school every day, and have learned to try new things!

	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY


FROM			Pea soup	Minestrone	Chicken soup
01/02/06	*	*	*	*	*
TO			beef burger	moussaka	fish Cajun
03/02/06			French fries		vegetables
			mixed salad		rice

FROM	Leek soup	Asparagus cream	Tomato soup	Mushroom cream	vegetables soup
06/02/06	*	*	*	*	*
TO	chicken stick	navarin	turkey burger	sausage	fish waterzooie
10/02/06	red cabbage	lamb&vegetables	French fries	stoemp carrot	vegetables
	mashed potato	Greek pasta	mixed salad		potatoes

FROM	VENETIA	LOUISIANA	RIO DE JANEIRO	SALZBURG	BINCHE
13/02/06	"comedia"	"mardi gras"	"carnival	"carnival"	"cortege"
TO
17/02/06	Busecca	crème ardennaise	chupe de poisson	lebernockerl sup	soup doree
	osso bucco	carbonnade	samba burger	wiener schnitzel	fish stick
	linguine	potatoes	pailettes	kartoffeln	salsa tropical
FROM
20/02/06	*	*	*	*	*
TO
		WINTER		BREAK
24/02/06

FROM	chicken soup	carrot soup
27/02/06	*	*	*	*	*
TO	ravioli	pita plate
28/02/06	cheese	jacket potatoes
	tomato	vegetable

Also, today, Will's class went to the Opera. He really seemed to like it, although he admitted he got sleepy in the end. I think it was a compilation of operas put together especially for kids. His summary was: "There was man and a woman and they were in love, but another guy did not like this. In the end, the other guy and the woman ended up getting married." Well, at least he paid attention. The only other tidbit I know is that they had to sit boy/girl/boy/girl/etc. I guess this cut down on the snickers from the audience. Too funny.

In Ben's class, they are paired up in two's working on drawing a body with the parts on it. According to Ben, things seem to be going well, except for two bad things that happened. The story from him is: (1) his partner drew a penis on their body, and the teacher got mad (but not at him, because he didn't draw it), and (2) his partner colored their white blood cells green, which also made the teacher mad (but not at Ben, because he knows they're white). I told him to pick a better partner next time, and he said, "But, Mom, THEY. ARE. ASSIGNED.!". Well, kid, you're learning this lesson early. {although I'm thinking that he had a major laugh at both the anatomically correct drawing and the green blood cells - until the teacher got mad.}

Well, hubby's on a plane bound for Heathrow, and should be back home by noon. That says it all.

I'm going to the school in the morning to help out with a mailing. But, now, I am headed to bed to watch "The Thomas Crown Affair" on TV (in English, I might add) - gotta love those Dutch TV stations.

Lousology

2006-01-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

You know it's going to be a good week when you get an email from school with web links to a Lousology website, and then three days later get a "we have a case of strep throat in our classroom" email - with a cheery "just thought you should know!" salutation at the end.

Well, apparently the lice did not hit either the 1st grade or 4th grade classes that my children are in. I'm not sure I would have been strong enough to survive the husband out of town thing coupled with a head lice infestation. I'm still checking them every night - all clear so far.

I thought I had dodged the strep thing, too. But, it's starting to look suspect. Ben sounds like a seal. He says his throat only hurts when he coughs. He has no fever, which is not unusual for Ben. As a baby, he would have a raging ear infection, and not much fever - contrasted with his brother, who, when exposed within 50 feet to someone with strep, would immediately run a 105 degree fever and turn it into a nice case of scarlet fever (rash and all). They've been studying the body in Ben's class for the last two weeks. So, now that he's becoming an expert, tonight he was really wondering why his white blood cells weren't attacking this virus in his body so he'd feel better. Now, I'm pretty sure that in first grade I wouldn't have been wondering that. But, it is 2006, and this is Ben. The same child who is at this minute relaxing in bed to the "O Brother Where Art Thou" Soundtrack - arguably his favorite album. I love my cool children.

As soon as he's asleep, I think I'll knit and watch "Wedding Crashers" again. That movie just makes me laugh out loud like nothing else. Sleep well.

Happy New Year. . . finally.

2006-01-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

Hello. It's been a while. There was the trip to London, then Christmas happened, then husband traveled to Hong Kong for three weeks. It's a tangled web that eventually leads to me only getting the basic life needs accomplished. However, he's about to return so I'm getting happier, and the kiddies were tired tonight, so I find myself here at 9 pm with TIME and MOTIVATION.

We did make it home to Georgia for Christmas - splitting time between Macon and Dublin. It was really nice to be home - to enjoy the company of family and get our batteries re-charged. We also enjoyed the shopping and dining excursions (barbecue is just not an option here in Europe). Although, it was strange being able to communicate with the store clerks without having to think. It was almost confusing. That sounds strange, but it's true.

School has begun again, and we have gotten back into a routine, now. Will spent most of last weekend at a couple of friend's houses - Ben and I had our own little party. We played games and watched movies. While we were playing UNO, he said the funniest thing, although he was dead serious. "Mom", he said. "It's a good thing that homeless people don't have any clothes to wear." My curiosity peaked, I asked him why. "Because, you know those fountains in cities where people just throw coins and stuff? Well, since they don't have any clothes on, they can just jump right in and gather up the money, then they'll be rich! And, to dry off, they can just go to somebodies porch that has a door mat, and just dry off." I'm still not sure what precipitated this whole thought process in that brain of his. They have been talking about Pakistan alot at school, so he's very aware that some people have a hard time finding clothing and food. I'm sure it bothers him when he thinks about it, and I think he was just trying to think of another way that he could help. I tried my best not to laugh, and told him it was an excellent idea. Let's just hope he doesn't try to move forward with it!

Did I mention lately that we really like it here? I ran into a friend at the grocery the other day, and we chatted and shopped, and it was just generally a good feeling. I felt a sense of community somehow just from that 15 minute chance meeting. I do miss my old career at times, but it's so nice to be able to be in charge of my schedule, since my schedule is somewhat ruled by my children's needs (and wants). I think I'll probably work again when we move back, but doing something that involves either less hours or way moreflexible hours. I'm thinking on it . . .

OK, enough catch up for tonight. It's nearing 10, and I really want to get some scrapbooking done. I completed an album this week of our renovation of our first house in Greensboro. It felt really good to get the pictures and the story written down in one album. I'm working on a mint tin album about ME now. I was in the mood for a fun, small project. I'll post pics when I'm done. Other than that, I have started knitting a scarf, and a scarf/hat combo thingy. It's hard to describe - it'll just be better if I post pics. Meanwhile, here are some from our London trip, and our excursions to the Brussels Christmas market.

Ta Daaaaa!

2005-12-11T09:29:00.000-08:00

Took me as long to sew it together as it did to knit, but: it's done, it fits, and it's warm!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

2005-12-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

Being the clever children that they are, Will and Ben decided to leave out their big snow boots, rather than just regular sized shoes.

Germany

2005-12-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

Germany was beautiful. We drove through Aachen and Koln, then ended up at Bad Honeff - home of Birkenstock! I had a blast. They had a play area, so Carey and the boys survived the experience unscathed. Here in Belgium, women don't really wear size 10 1/2 shoes. In Germany, however, they do. And, at the Birkenstock outlet, I got 10 1/2s at a bargain price. My feet are so happy.

We then drove to Monschau to experience a quaint Christmas market. It snowed for almost the entire drive - amazing - and, it was fresh snow, so it was so pretty. We happened upon our hotel by sheer luck, checked in, donned our ski clothes, and walked 1.2 km downhill to the market. There were about 50 wooden stalls with vendors selling toys, hats, soup, gluwhein (best to be drunk while it's hot), and random gift type items. As the sun set, they had Christmas music playing and everything was twinkling in white lights - there was snow on the ground and snow falling from the sky. It was all just a lovely experience. The only semi-exciting part was not being able to get in touch with the cab to take us back up the snowy hill (1.2 km) to our hotel. So, we walked. Or, I should say, Carey and I walked and the boys took turns falling up the hill into the snow banks. Maybe it was meant to be that we kept getting a "not available" message when we called the cab service.

After a warm night's sleep and a traditional breakfast of fresh breads, soft boiled eggs, cheese, turkey, and ham slices, we dug out of the overnight snowfall, and were on our way to the Mosel river valley - aka, wine country. We visited a winery whose owner was an acquaintance of Carey's dad many years ago. His parents had visited the winery again a couple of weeks ago during their visit, and we were so taken by the taste of the wine, we had to stop and make a purchase while we were so close. Needless to say, we enjoyed our half hour tasting and conversation with the owner's son, who is our age. How many sips does it take to drink 126 bottles of wine?

Tomorrow morning we're off to London for three days. It's supposed to be magical at Christmas - can't wait.

Christmas Decor at Our House

2005-12-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

Just had to show you some things from the Christmas decor at the Wallace house this year. As usual, we put up the nativity set. After a few days, I noticed some changes. It seems Ben in really into playing out the nativity action this year. He informed me that he moved the shepherd, so he could talk to Gabriel the angel. Also, you can see that the donkey and the wise men's camel seem to be deep in conversation. My favorite part, though, are the items in the manger bed with baby Jesus. Ben decided that the wise men must have real gifts for him, so he took three items from his Mega Blocks Pirate set, and showered them upon the baby. Nontraditional, maybe, but I just smile each time I walk by it. Even when he's grown and out of the house, you may still find the three Mega Blocks gifts lying in our nativity.

(I couldn't get it to focus on him, but you get the idea.)

We also have two figures from the celebration of Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas). He's accompanied by his assistant, Zwarte Piet (black Pete). Here in Belgium, St. Nicholas comes on December 6. He leaves toys and candy in the shoes of the children who are on the good list. The ones on the bad list are taken away by his assistant, Zwarte Piet. So, I guess he's going to have to visit our house, too, since he'll be visiting the boy's school that day. Then, Santa Claus will come visit some time prior to our trip home at Christmas. Between Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, Christmas in Dublin, and Christmas in Macon, Will and Ben will have been celebrating Christmas all month. Hey, there are worse things in life. You can read more on Sinterklaas by clicking on his name.

And, on a personal note, here are a couple of neat things that we picked up at the Christmas markets - they're both smokers from Germany. I had heard of them, but didn't really know what they were. Think incense burning, nutcracker-like decorations. You light an incense cone, and place it inside, then the smoke from the incense comes out of the figure's mouth. Really neat. I hadn't really planned out the two that I bought. I just liked them both individually. However, Ben decided to put them side by side last night, and said that they were Carey and I - the knitter and the woodworker.

Still snowing.

2005-11-26T21:26:00.000-08:00

But, the roads are still not white.

Peace, Tranquility

2005-11-09T09:22:00.000-08:00

I still have not unpacked and washed clothes, but life goes on here. I'll update more on Ireland once I can take a breath and sit for more than 10 minutes at a time - hopefully by Sunday. But, here are some photos for you all. I think I used to be Irish in another life. If anyone ever hears of a job where you can just drive around Ireland taking pictures, let me know ;-0

This was the view from our couch all week.

One of my leprechauns. (photo taken by Arlie)

And, the other. (photo taken by Arlie)

Didn't find the pot o' gold, but loved it anyway.

Trying not to be blown over the cliffs at the Cliffs of Moher.

First Snow!

2005-11-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

Snow's still coming down. The roads are wet, not icy, which is good since we leave for Germany tomorrow.

The Christmas markets all start this weekend, so we're heading to see one in a little town called Monschau. Then on Sunday, we'll go to a town on the Mosel to do some good wine stocking up. I'll leave with a picture from Hong Kong - Carey just got back this afternoon from a week long business trip there. I really hope to go back with him - beautiful and a bargain shoppers paradise.

Boo from Belgium!

2005-10-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

Here's our scary crew of Swedes and Americans! I'm not going to attempt to spell everyone's names. We went trick or treating tonight with friends from school - Will's friend Fabian, his sister, mom, and her friend and three daughters. Ben was Darth Vader and Will was the Grim Reaper. It was a real Halloween, too - complete with fog machines, jack-o-lanterns, and candy galore!

We also had a party in Ben's class today. It was neat to be in there with him, and observe him with his friends. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. We did a show of hands, and it was going to be the first night ever of trick or treating for several of the kids. I thought that was really neat. Every one of them had their costumes ready to go, too!

Well, we're off to Ireland tomorrow. Carey's parents are meeting us there for a week of relaxation and fun. Then, they'll come back to Brussels with us for the next couple of weeks. It's always fun to show people around (now that we know where a few things are).

The boys are most excited. We're actually going to drive to France, and take a ferry (yes, with our car) to Ireland. It's an 18.5 hour mini-cruise of sorts. This, all due to the fact that our FLIGHT to Shannon was cancelled last night. Apparently they have a thing here in Brussels for striking. And, they usually choose the biggest travel days. Public transportation shuts down, as do the airports and the grocery stores. All because these people don't want to work until they're 60, and get taken care of extremely well after that!!! At least this time, the police have said that they will "take action against" strikers who try to band together and block the roadways - a usual occurence during a strike. That's big of them.

Ya'll have a good HALLOWEEN!

Signs of the season

2005-10-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

My scrapbooking desk knows it's Halloween. I've spent the morning cutting out 24 pieces of ghosts, pumpkins, trees, fences, moons, and bookmark blanks. Multi-tasking that Sizzix machine. I'm going to read "10 Timid Ghosts" to Ben's class on Thursday for their Halloween party, then afterwards, we'll make bookmarks. I don't think that many of the kids come from countries that celebrate Halloween, so let's hope that the ghost thing doesn't bother them - they're cute little casper type ghosts, so hopefully not! And, the energy to fuel this activity today is compliments of Brach's mellowcreme pumpkins. Possibly my favorite sweet. Carey brought them back to me from his last trip to the US. We don't really have Halloween candy here (the Belgians don't Trick or Treat). Mellowcreme anything isn't even a concept. And, surprisingly, the boys have not yet discovered that I have these! Don't worry, they got treats of their own.

Elsewhere in the house, the boys apparently believed me when I told them to clean their rooms or no trick or treating :-). Each year, a group of Halloween celebratees gets together, everyone donates candy, and some volunteer to decorate their homes and hand out the candy. This year's should be fun. I think there are about 50 houses on the list. We're going to walk around with Will's friend Fabian and his mom and sister. They're from Sweden, but have lived the past several years in Singapore, in a neighborhood where trick or treating was a really big thing. Anyway, the boys are each actually in their respective rooms, music turned loud, moving about & putting away toys and stuff. Ahh, the power of Halloween.

Addition to Our Family

2005-10-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

As if we didn't have enough going on here, we made the decision a couple of weeks ago to increase our family count by 2. Now, don't get all excited. We're not even sure if they're boys or girls. These two new members are even less work than just 1 puppy. Which is why you see two hamsters in this picture instead of one new dog.

Please welcome . . . Raptor and Stitch! Not quite sure if they're French or Flemish, but we bought them in a Flemish commune.

Busy, Busy

2005-10-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

My parents were here with us on and off over the last couple of weeks. They spent most of their time touring the Netherlands and Germany with some dear friends who are Flemish, but now live in Georgia. From the sound of it, they all had a wonderful time. While my parents were here, they got to go to a meeting and eat lunch with me at the American Women's Club of Brussels. We all enjoyed that! And, this past weekend before they flew home, I toured Antwerp with them on Friday and on Saturday, we all six went to Amsterdam for the day - no red light district this time! In Antwerp, we mainly spent our time at the Cathedral of Antwerp which is like a miniature art gallery. It has many commissioned works by Peter Paul Rubens painted from 1610 to 1612. There was also a gold leaf wooden box that is modeled after the arc of the covenant. It was all breathtaking. In Amsterdam, we had time to ride the canal boat and visit both the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh museum. Every bit of it was enjoyable, but I must say that the Anne Frank House will stay with me for a long time to come. Each room will make your heart ache and your eyes well up with tears. It is all so unbelievable, but it happened not so long ago. It was even more heart wrenching walking through the house with our boys. They were both asking so many questions, and we just told them the truth about why Anne and her family had fled to the Netherlands - to this house we were in. They were finding it hard to understand that people kill other people just on the basis of their religion. I can remember being just stunned by it all as well. I took a class on the Holocaust during a summer Exploration camp at Shorter College in Rome, Georgia. I think I was in the 5th grade. Just the shock of the hearing what happened really stuck with me. I don't remember much about the 5th grade, but I can picture in detail sitting in that college classroom watching a video and having a discussion on that subject. In the end, Ben summed it all up when he looked at me and said, "But, mommy, people did that to Jesus, too, right?". At that point, I knew he understood the basic idea of this museum we were walking through. I still get chills just thinking about it.

Mom and Dad flew home on Sunday, and we all had a restful day. Carey and the boys rented a paddle boat at the ponds across the street from our house, and then Ben had his first ever Tiger Cub meeting. He was way too excited! He's been watching Will participate for four years now, and it's finally his turn.

Well, I'm off to plan for tomorrow. Busy, busy day. I have French from 10:30 - noon, then I must register Will for basketball in Waterloo, at 2 there's a Cub Scout Den Leader meeting, at 3 I must drop off Halloween candy for a huge neighborhood trick or treating party next Thursday, and at 3:30 is our Cub Scout meeting. I think I'll get take out for dinner!!!! Have a wonderful day.

Market Day

2005-10-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday day was one of the market days in Stokkel - a busy shopping square in the commune where we live. They have this market on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. It's a regular occurrence across most of the communes, and certain areas of Brussels. Vendors set up at dawn selling any number of items including, but not limited to, flowers, clothing, cheeses, watches, fresh meat, olives, pasta, handbags, bedding plants, and fabric. It's really a sight to behold. Carey had not had the market experience yet, so we strolled down on Saturday morning to take a walk around. You really feel like you're part of the city here. People are bustling around with their market baskets full of flowers and breads. It's fun to imagine what dinner they might be planning for. Whether you make a purchase or not - the whole experience is worthwhile in itself. But where else could you buy two weeks of happiness (20 fresh tulips and a bunch of cut hydrangea) for 10 euro?

Questionnaire

2005-10-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

For the past three weeks, I have been taking a class at the American Women's Club of Brussels entitled "Hints: A Guide to Living in Belgium". It's over now, but was most enjoyable. There were about 100 other ladies (and 1 man) in the class who had just relocated here to Brussels. It was comforting to be surrounded by others in the same circumstance as myself, and also by others who have lived here for several years. We could all laugh (and commiserate) with each other about the "challenges" involved in driving, grocery shopping, and even mailing a letter here - all activities that take at least 4 times longer here than in the U.S. In our next to last class, one of the women's club members read us a humorous article that she had written for the club's magazine. I had to post it here. Now, you know, you are are most welcome to come anytime. . . just beware of the questionnaire! ;-)

Beware of Flooding

by Peg Miller
My name is Peg Miller and this is my seventh year in Belgium. I am here to caution you about flooding. No, not the rain type, even though I am sure Brussels is about 800 cm short in rainfall this year. The flooding I’m talking about is the visitor type. In our first year here, we had 12 sets of guests. Amazing. And more importantly, if there were 12 sets of guests who visited between April and September, stayed an average of 6 nights, and had 3.6 people in each group….how many towels did I wash?

Don’t get me wrong. I love having visitors. But ten years of experience with guests in Europe has caused me to start categorizing them into four types:

Type 1: Self Sufficient

They have been to Europe several times, know how to read train timetables, can speak three languages (granted, few of my Texas friends pass this one), and are happy to take side trips on their own.

Type 2: Insufficient

Arrive without credit cards, maps, itineraries, or cash (they are probably relatives).

Type 3: Inefficient

Arrive in Belgium Monday, take a train to Milan Wednesday, scoot to the French Riviera on Friday, cross the Swiss Alps on Saturday, and return to Brussels for a flight out on Sunday. Inefficient? Yes. But they can check five countries off their list of “Things to See in Europe."

Type 4: Other

Those who cough, sputter and wave their hands in front of their faces in every Belgian restaurant, while whispering loudly, “Why don’t they just ban smoking in Europe? It’s easy, we did it in Arkansas.”
Based on this knowledge, I have learned to discriminate. When I receive an email regarding a visitor, I immediately reply with this handy questionnaire:

"Welcome to Brussels. We are looking forward to your visit, and to make your stay more comfortable, would you please answer the following:

Question 1: Is this your first trip to Europe? (please check one)

___ Yes, I can’t wait to visit your family for three nights, take you out to dinner, and travel on our own. Anything we can bring you?

___ Yes, do you think you can organize a trip for us to the French Wine Country. (hint: they have been to Napa Valley)

___ Yes, are there a lot of foreigners living in Belgium?

Question 2: When do you plan to travel to Brussels?

___ Anytime between June 1 and August 31…whatever is most convenient for you.

___ The whole summer. Can you find cheap things for us to do?

___ I’m not sure. I’m waiting to see when my other three friends can join me.

Question 3: Do you have any clue how much a gallon of gasoline costs in Europe? _______

Based on these questions, I can tell what type of guests to expect. Either I reply “Welcome! Book your flights! Can’t wait to see you!”

Or I reply “Unfortunately we already have guests booked during that time. Perhaps we could meet you somewhere for dinner!”

Those of you who are new will probably scoff and tell me what a great entertainer you are, and that you can’t wait to show your friends and family Brugge. Believe me, after you’ve taken that little boat ride around the canals fifteen times, you will be begging to borrow my handy little travel questionnaire!

Enjoy your guests……

Parakeets: Up Close & Personal

2005-10-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

I woke up to two wonderful things this morning: a kiss from my husband who had arrived on an early morning plane from the U.S.A. and a new customer at our bird feeders.

I'm still speechless. I feel like I've stepped into a National Geographic special. I love looking for these birds every morning in our backyard trees, but I never thought one would venture in this close to the house! This bird is a Rose-ring Parakeet (I blogged about them several weeks ago). It's a species that was introduced to Belgium - as opposed to being native - and lives here in a few of the parks. Naturally, seeing this motivated us to run out to the nearest pet food store and buy a whole sack of peanuts to place in an open container on the deck. We'll keep you posted. . .

The bird was exciting, but seeing my husband was even better. There was some doubt as to whether or not he would actually make it home this morning. I went to sleep praying that I would see him some time today, and he actually got here early enough to wake me up with a kiss. You see, today there was a call for a national strike in Belgium today for all of the transportation workers. They closed the schools. The grocery stores are closed. Random businesses are closed. The metro, bus, trams, and trains aren't running. And (most important to us today) many of the airport workers did not show up for work. I think it was just luck that he was on a flight that arrived so early in the morning - before everything at the airport had time to get really clogged up. They didn't have any workers to guide them into the gate, so they parked off the runway, and walked down stairs to a bus that carried them to the terminal. Amazingly enough, their luggage was on the carousel once they cleared passport control. (our theory was that the temporary workers in charge of the luggage were actually doing that job in a timely manner, because it was something new to them - they didn't know that you could just hang out and take your time and throw the luggage up onto the carousel whenever you felt like it!) Carey was relieved to be able to drive out of the airport as well. He didn't tell me last night (smart man), but apparently (according to his co-workers) most of the time the workers on strike physically block the exits from the airport so no one can leave. Yes, the police just let them do this. I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto.

Blog deserter

2005-09-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

OK, call me the blog deserter. Not working is a lot of work, believe it or not. No wonder I've been in zombie zone for the past 9 years - trying to do all of this plus work full time. I thank God everyday I can walk to get my children from the school bus, so please don't think I'm complaining. I'm just apologizing for letting the posting business slide a little.

When I last I left you, we were heading into the weekend (two weekends ago). On Saturday, we met up with some Dublin, Georgia, friends (the Cobbs) who were passing through town on their way to Germany. We had a great hour and a half quick tour of the Grand Place and the Mannekin Pis, and really enjoyed spending time with two other people who can easily pronounce the word "ya'll"! Ben was really getting into the role of tour guide, pointing out the buildings in the Grand Place, and showing them the Belgium flag. That afternoon, we took the train to Antwerp to do a little Kipling shopping and eat at this great fried chicken place (yes, fried chicken).

Sunday we got up early early to catch the cheap train to Paris. I was excited about going, but boy were my expectations surpassed. I have always wanted to see Paris, but it was not at the top of my list. . . maybe it was somewhere between Italy (#1) and Hawaii (#999), but closer to Hawaii. I did not expect to love it so. With only a day to see the highlights, we just took the hop on/off bus and did the tourist thing. The look and smell of the Metro had me very worried about our day, but as soon as we emerged from the underground system up the escalator and saw the Arc de Triomphe, everything changed. I am so amazed at how beautiful everything is there (at least the parts we saw). From the bridges to the monuments to the tops of row houses, almost everything is just beautifully designed in an opulent sort of way. I was talking to a friend about this on Saturday, and he made the comment "yeah, France had so much money for so long. . . ". I hadn't really thought about it, but he's right, and you can tell just by driving around. I know some are put off by Paris, but I personally cannot wait to go back - maybe just with Carey for a long weekend. I want more time to go through the Louvre and Notre Dame. . . maybe take a side trip out to Versailles. One more comment, look at the picture below that was taken from the top of the Eiffel Tower - we were just shocked at how huge Paris is. I have a whole album of pictures, email me if you did get the link and want it.

Cub scouts has officially begun. Carey is going to serve as cub-master, and I'm a WEBELO den leader for Will's den. Ben is so excited to finally be a real cub scout - after spending 4 years going to all of the camp-outs as a bystander. We had our first camp-out here this past weekend. I'll be the first to admit that camping isn't really my thing. Under perfect circumstances it could be (like warm sun in the day time, a comfortable evening temperature, no rain, no spiders, no pollen). But, I put on a good face for the boys. It's important to them. For all of my worrying about our weather for the weekend, we actually lucked out. It was a bit nippy, but sunny and very laid back. The night temp was good, and I really did enjoy snuggling in my sleeping bag with a book. However, I did not enjoy the quarter mile hike to the nearest bathroom, nor did I sleep well after waking up in the middle of the night to POURING rain. We did stay dry, but that's beside the point. . . the fear of being cold and wet was there all the same. All in all, we did have fun. The boys got to whittle (Ben with soap and a plastic knife), climb trees, cook on a stick, and hike through the woods - essential boyhood activities. After the campfire while I was putting Ben to "bed", he looked up at me and said "Mom, I'm so proud of me. I really was the best at whittling, and I've never even done it before!". Who knows, maybe God knew I needed some sort of reassurance that I could make it through another camping trip with 50 boys and enjoy it, or at least, have it all be worthwhile.

I continue to take class twice a week at the American Women's Club. The topics range from session to session, but all are general "hints" to living in Belgium. It's nice because there are about 100 other women (and 1 man) there that are new to Brussels as well. So far we've learned about grocery shopping, car insurance, safety, travel, and what to do with kids in Belgium. I'll probably end up volunteering out there once class is over, and some of my time is freed back up. Carey is starting to feel at home with his new work environment. His Dutch word count must be up to 9 or 10 by now. The boys are really liking school still, and they are enjoying swimming and karate. Will's even going home with another boy tomorrow to play for the afternoon. Sebastian continues to sleep and eat, and deposit the occasional flea. I'm not sure he knows he lives half way around the world, now.

Those are the highlights. I think we're all caught up now. I'll leave you with a laugh. I saw this link on another blog I read. I'm not saying anyone in particular needs this service, just passing along the information (;-0).

New Neighbors

2005-09-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

Up until today, my kids have been the only ones getting off at our afternoon bus stop. However, a nice American woman crossed the street to stand with me today. They had just moved in down the street from us - yesterday, I think. Her husband is with UPS, and they moved here from Atlanta (originally they're from Maryland). They have three boys - 9th, 8th, and 6th grade. She said that the 9th grader babysits/petsits/etc (yes!). They've moved around a good bit in the U.S. over the last few years, but this is her first international move as well. She was super nice, and I'm so glad to have another family from the school so close by!

A Week of Firsts

2005-09-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

Another full week here, and a week of firsts. We got our Belgian drivers licenses this week. Apparently, turning in my U.S. license allows me to drive a car, a 16 person bus, and a 16 person bus towing a trailer. Do they know me? It is obvious they’ve never seen me parallel park.

Another first - I finally got low enough on my thyroid medication prescription that I had to take that big step and go to the doctor here. A friend at the school (who has a background in healthcare, and has lived here for a couple of years) recommended a doctor in a Flemish commune not far from here. The doctor is Flemish as well, and speaks very good English, as is common with the Flemish. He is a GP, and his wife is a pediatrician – very convenient for us. For the most part, seeing a doctor here is very different from the U.S.. They mostly practice out of their homes, answer their own phones, and handle all aspects of the appointment – from any pre-examination activities (weight, height, etc) to the payment/checkout at the end. They also spend a great deal of time talking with you regarding your health. The most amazing part was that I was in there for a little over an hour, and at checkout I paid him 21 Euro. Yes, that's 21. . . twenty-one. They typically don’t file insurance for you – you do that yourself. The prescription was neat as well – it’s a bar coded slip printed from his computer. I haven’t done the pharmacy thing yet. . . that’ll be next weeks hurdle. I’ll take a picture of his office next time. It’s a nice, brick house out in the country near some farms – definitely different, but in a good way.

Last night was the elementary school open house. Since it was raining, the kids hung out in the library together watching Toy Story. That gave the parents alone time with the teachers and specialists to hear general information on the curriculum. We had a nice visit with Will’s Writer’s Workshop teacher. He loves her class, which is a huge hurdle as far as we are concerned. He has hated the pencil since 1st grade, and it has gotten worse each year. We think that part of it is the whole ADD effect on his fine motor skills (writing), and part of it is that he loses focus when writing – so it takes him FOREVER to get a sentence down. He’s got the ideas and the vocabulary (he just finished reading the new Harry Potter – yes, he beat me to it), he just takes a million minutes to get it on paper. This class is 4 times/week, and focuses on helping him organize thoughts and learn ways to capture his creative thoughts on paper. There are only four in the class at a time, so she has lots of time for 1 on 1 work, which is great for him. He goes to this class while the others from his class are either in French or ESL (English as a 2nd language), so there’s nothing he’s missing in the classroom – and, he’s still being tutored in French here at home each week.

Next, we met with his teacher. She is British, and is married to a Flemish man. She also is a parent – her children are in 9th and 12th grade. She seems like a very nice, gentle person. We also liked the information on the curriculum. They will learn about early man, and visit caves with drawings from this time period. They will also get into studying Egypt, which is one of Will’s favorite things. In science, they’ll do some hands on activities like build a circuit board to create a game that lights up a bulb/sounds a buzzer when a question is answered. They’ve also studied plants already, and enjoyed an afternoon of picking corn on a farm last week. The corn was tasty! In May, they’ll go to France for a week to do some team/confidence building activities. Oh, we also got to meet/see the parents of some of his friends - all really nice people. His two best friends so far are Rowee and Woytack (I think I'm butchering the spellings!). Rowee is from Israel, and Woytack is from Poland (but moved here from Sweden). They all three are into Star Wars, Captain Underpants, etc - matches made in Playstation heaven.

When Open House was over and we went to pick up the boys, one of the high school babysitters for the evening asked me who I was looking for, so I told her the boy’s names. She said “Oh, I know who they are. (uh oh, I thought). Ben has been upstairs sitting on the couch with a couple of friends of mine talking for about 2 hours.” I thought maybe he had just been in time out that long. But, sure enough, when Carey got up there, Ben was sitting with a high school girl and boy chatting it up – no time out involved. On the way to the car he was so excited - “MOM, I got to talk to TWO adults for a looooong time. I’ve never talked to TWO adults that long before. They were so nice.” I asked if he got their numbers – for babysitting – he laughed at me. I’ll be on the lookout in the directory for them ;-).

Today was laundry time. That’s a whole day event here, since the European dryer I have dries about half of my American washer load at a time. But, hey, that’s lots of trips up and down the stairs. Maybe I will make my doctor happy after all ;_). So, I knit a lot in between the trips. I’m half way there – got a sleeve and a back to my sweater now.

And, for the last first for this week. Those of you who will be visiting during the cold weather will be glad to know that our heat works – very well. We switched on the boiler, and it did its job. And if today was any indication, it is a job that will get more important as each week passes.

You can purchase anything anywhere

2005-09-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

I couldn't just let this one go without a post. Walking around in my town, I've run across this machine several times.

Then, it hit me what it actually was.

It disturbs me on several levels that there is a need (whether perceived or actual) to have a condom dispenser on the street in the quaint town center of my commune. . . next to where I buy our groceries and pick up our take-out pizza. There are shops less than 50 feet away from it that sell such items. But, as Carey pointed out (being the male that he is), it is conveniently located next to the bar.

Maybe it's a good thing that we haven't been out after dark. Somebody needs to tell Amsterdam about these things.

Quiet Sunday

2005-09-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

It is a quiet Sunday afternoon in Brussels. I just planted some ivy and flowers in a planter on the upstairs deck. While out there, I could hear someone from the condos next door practicing the trumpet. First, there was "When the Saints Go Marching In", followed by "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". Trumpet practice songs are universal, I guess. It made me think of New Orleans. We, like many of you, have had an overdose of CNN over the last couple of weeks. It's all so surreal. Well, last night we had a flooding scare of our own here. When we put the boys to bed and came upstairs for the night, it was raining out and lightening some, but that's nothing new. Once up here, we started to watch a movie, but the lightening was so intense that Carey and I just sat in the dark and watched it for a while. The rain was amazingly heavy. Once the flashing died down, we started our movie (we'd rented Miss Congeniality 2). About 10 minutes into it, we heard our doorbell ring and ring and ring. We got dressed and answered the door, but no one was there. Carey stepped outside to look around, and saw that the street we live on was flooded on the opposite side from us. Cars going in that direction were having to drive down the middle of the road, which is a bike/walking path - some were stuck in the water. The little stream under our driveway had turned into a rushing river, and was doubled in size - width and depth. Then he heard our neighbor yelling that she needed help. He got over to her house and went inside. They had water pouring into their dining room through a light fixture, and had it pouring into their basement! And, it happened that her husband had not come home this weekend. Carey helped move some things, and offered what help he could. They got it mopped up and contained, and the rain stopped shortly after that. When he got back, we noticed that some rain had come through one window on our 2ND floor, and some through a window in the basement, but nothing close to what our neighbor had. It also washed a lot of sand from our plant beds and her driveway into the street. For the next hour or so, there were cars stranded in the street, and eventually a fire truck and tow truck came to help them. It was a wild couple of hours, and it made us think -if we were running around this crazy over some water here and there, what could it have been like for the Southern U.S.? It's very scary to think about. This morning, Carey shoveled up the washed out sand, and we're pretty much back to normal around here.

I tried to post on Thursday, but my maddening laptop did it's crazy stuff again with the touchpad, and I lost most of what I had typed. I had to just go to bed - and make plans to type later. . . I'll try to recap the last few days here now, including parts of my lost post.

Our baby turned 6 on Thursday. Sometimes I really look at him, and am shocked at what I see - how tall and filled out he is. In my mind, he's like 2 or 3 (and I'm still 25 - but I digress). Such is life. We actually celebrated on Wednesday night. Apparently his school didn't consult with us before scheduling the 1st grade Open House for Thursday night. Though, Ben didn't really mind opening his presents a day early. He chose to open presents first, then eat a grilled cheese sandwich for his birthday dinner, and finally, cake. According to him, I'm the bestest cupcake and cake baker in the world. He wasn't here while I was cooking. He didn't see that the cake batter here comes pre-packaged from Canada, ready to pour in a pan and cook. Now, the icing you cannot buy. It did take effort - I actually had to mix the Crisco, powdered sugar, vanilla flavoring, and milk - not hard labor, but at least I felt like I had participated in the whole cake making process. Participated enough to accept the compliment. He said it was the best birthday ever. That's good enough for us. The best part of the whole celebration, to me, was when Will gave Ben his present. It wasn't the present so much, but the wrapping. I had taken Will upstairs away from Ben on Tuesday night to let him wrap his gift himself. He spent about 2 hours on it, wrapping, taping, and punching out circles of colored paper. He glued on the circles of paper onto the gift to spell out WILL. Now, I was thinking "who wants a gift with some else's name spelled out on it in huge letters? But, he was so proud of it, I kept my lips zipped. So glad I did - you know what he did next? He took a tag, and wrote this:

Yes, I cried. It was one of those, "maybe I've done something right in raising these kids" kind of parenting moments.

On the actual b-day day, I took cupcakes to the school - which completely made Ben's day. I left a camera for the teacher to take some pictures for me (she had indicated that I could drop them off in the morning, and they would eat them in the afternoon). When I get the pics developed, I'll hopefully have a couple of good ones of his class. But for now, here's one of the b-day boy.

Friday was my day. I had met a friend through a knitting blog who lives about 15 minutes from here in a town called Leuven. She had offered to take time off work to walk me around to the knitting stores in her town. On Friday morning, though, the traffic to get to one of our major roads was at a standstill, and it took me 40 minutes to travel a distance that should have taken 5 minutes. That got me off to a late start, then once I arrived in Leuven, I got lost once more (something I am very good at in Belgium!). I called Carey, and he consulted an on-line map, and talked me to through to where I needed to be. And, although I was terribly late to our meeting place, Dominique waited on me, and we had a wonderful day walking, talking, and shopping. Now, I have a place where I can go for the day to walk around and just enjoy the day. There were a couple of really good yarn stores, and a store which had an amazing selection of ribbons and buttons. Also, there was a magazine/book store with at least every magazine (in English) that I have ever seen at Barnes & Noble in the U.S.. It was a great day - thanks again to Dominique!

Friday night was the first Cub Scout meeting of the year. Carey decided he would help be an assistant cubmaster. I also decided to be a den leader for Will's Webelo 1 group, and not just for the flattering uniform, either (:-)). Meetings are held right after school every other week. I am sure that both he and I will learn alot this year. The first camp-out is in a couple of weeks. It really looks like they have a good group - should be lots of fun.

Yesterday (Saturday), we took the boys to Walibi Belgium. It's a Six Flags owned park that's a 20 minute drive from our house. Since we really don't know many in Ben's class yet, we (and he) decided that we'd just go to Walibi as a family in lieu of a party somewhere. It was a beautiful day, and was a ton of fun. We even ran into a friend I had met at the ISB champagne brunch and her family. It was her 9 year old's birthday, and they were there to celebrate as well. It kind of felt like we were at home - going to places, running into people.

That's it. . . we're all caught up now. I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Excellent Tickets

2005-09-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

I'll thank Nancy Cobb for my excellent tickets. You see, she and her husband are going to be touring Europe soon, and they are going to be stopping through Brussels to visit with us on their way to Koln, Germany. She emailed me and was talking about the timetables for the Thalys trains. So, I went on to their website to double-check that the train times she had found were complete. They were, but I lingered and did some looking around. There, on the front page, was an ad for "Heritage Days", a promotion that they are running. They are running a special from Brussels to Paris for 19 Euro (38 Euro round trip)! I screamed. I called Carey. I purchased 4 tickets. They're offering it on 9/17 and 9/18 only. So, we'll go to Paris for the day on the 18th. We'll hit the highlights and get a feel for the city, then come back for a long weekend when we know what we want to explore more deeply.

I think I'm still in shock. 38 Euro round trip to Paris. Are we really going to Paris in a week?

Gotta check Thalys more often.